By Olivia Bowman and Kate Nanavati

As October comes to an end, Junior girls prepare for the Collegiate tradition of Brunch. Brunch is an annual performance in Oates Theater on the day before Thanksgiving to celebrate the Senior girls. Middle and Upper School female students attend Brunch as the audience for the Junior girls. Starting in May, multiple committees of Junior girls meet, such as script, dance, decorations, and publicity, to begin preparing. Over the summer, the dance and script committees, along with the Brunch co-chairs, choreograph and write a script corresponding to the theme. All of this work is done secretly and kept that way until the day of Brunch, when the theme is revealed to all Middle and Upper School girls.

Brunch 2023. Photo credit: Hannah Curley.

This year, there are three Brunch co-chairs who have taken the lead on organizing the majority of the Junior-Senior girls’ traditions. Elle Mitchell (‘25), one of the three co-chairs, describes the current process of Brunch as both stressful and exciting. She’s ecstatic that the dances are completed and can’t wait to see them come together on stage. However, the stress is now ramping up, as the rehearsals for the specific roles in the performance are twice a week for two hours after school and sports. Because there are three co-chairs, one more than in previous years, Elle said the process has felt smoother. 

Photo credit: Kate Nanavati.

Junior girl and Brunch participant Kaelyn Crosthwaite (‘25), said that the build-up for Brunch has made her start to Junior year thrilling. Since the Junior girls have been working for weeks already, she has built up excited anxiety to get on stage and perform what she’s been working on. Like many other Junior girls, performing a show is out of her comfort zone. Crosthwaite highlighted that the performance allows the girls to gain a new experience of performing in a less formal setting than Collegiate plays and musicals.